Download or read book Toward a Better Understanding of Boreal Forest Fires and Their Role in the Climate System written by Brendan Morris Rogers and published by . This book was released on 2014 with total page 202 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Large areas of boreal forest in North America and Eurasia are frequently disturbed by wildfire. These fires alter ecosystem structure and function and affect climate through various biophysical and biogeochemical pathways. Fire-related forcings, however, are highly uncertain, can be opposite in sign, and depend on fire behavior as mediated by meteorology and intrinsic ecosystem properties. Our current understanding of large-scale fire dynamics is inadequate for fully characterizing their role in the climate system. This is particularly pertinent given the sensitivity of high latitudes and the large projected increases in fire frequencies during the 21st century. My dissertation aims to better characterize the controls on and feedbacks from boreal fires so that we may properly account for them in global change projections and potentially mitigate the impacts. I first quantified landscape-scale fire carbon emissions from a 2010 burn in Alaska using field measurements and fine-scale (30 m) remote sensing imagery. Accurate maps of fire emissions are needed to validate larger-scale models and quantify regional carbon fluxes, but are currently lacking due to spatial scaling issues. Here I show that by accounting for plot-level heterogeneity and species effects on spectral signatures, emission models can be generated from non-linear correlations between the differenced Normalized Burn Ratio (dNBR) and field data. Belowground combustion was quantified from soil cores and scaled to the site-level using spruce adventitious root heights. Species-specific allometric equations and visual estimates were used to characterize aboveground carbon losses. Results indicated that fire-wide combustion (1.98 ± 0.19 kg C m−2) was substantially lower than that in the core burning area (2.67 ± 0.24 kg C m−2) and sites (2.88 ± 0.23 kg C m−2) because of lower-severity patches and unburned islands. These areas constitute a significant fraction of burn perimeters in Alaska but are generally not accounted for in regional-scale estimates. This approach may be suitable for other fires in the region. In addition to the positive forcing from carbon emissions, forest fires in boreal North America exert a cooling effect due to relatively large increases in spring albedo from canopy destruction and tree fall. Although this forcing has been characterized at local and regional scales, its climate impacts have not been assessed. I simulated the continental-scale climate footprint of this cooling under various burning scenarios. Forest composition was characterized using a stochastic model of fire occurrence, historical fire data from national inventories, and succession trajectories derived from moderate-scale remote sensing (500 m). When coupled to an Earth system model, younger vegetation from increased burning cooled the high-latitude atmosphere, primarily in the winter and spring, with noticeable feedbacks from the ocean and sea ice. Results from multiple scenarios suggested that a doubling of burn area could cool the surface by 0.23 ±0.09°C across boreal North America during winter and spring months (December through May). This has the potential to provide a negative feedback to winter warming across the domain on the order of 3 - 5% for a doubling, and 14 - 23% for a quadrupling, of burn area. Maximum cooling occurred in the areas of greatest burning and between February and April, reaching feedback potentials of up to 60%. Fire dynamics have been studied much less extensively in boreal Eurasia despite the region containing roughly 2/3rds of the world's boreal forests and displaying unique patterns of fire behavior. I used over a decade of satellite imagery to characterize variations in circumpolar fire behavior, immediate impacts, and longer-term responses. Compared to boreal North America, Eurasian fires were 58 ± 31% less likely to be crown fires, combusted 36 ± 5% less live vegetation, and caused 42 ± 5% less tree mortality. Eurasian fires also generated a 69 ± 9% smaller surface shortwave forcing during the initial post-fire decade, suggesting a near-neutral net climate forcing. Current global fire models were unable to capture the continental differences. I demonstrate that fire weather cannot explain the divergent fire dynamics and climate feedbacks. The primary drivers are shown to be species-level adaptations to fire, making this a preeminent example of species effects on continental-scale carbon and energy exchange.
Download or read book Fire Climate Change and Carbon Cycling in the Boreal Forest written by Eric S. Kasischke and published by Springer Science & Business Media. This book was released on 2012-08-22 with total page 490 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: A discussion of the direct and indirect mechanisms by which fire and climate interact to influence carbon cycling in North American boreal forests. The first section summarizes the information needed to understand and manage fires' effects on the ecology of boreal forests and its influence on global climate change issues. Following chapters discuss in detail the role of fire in the ecology of boreal forests, present data sets on fire and the distribution of carbon, and treat the use of satellite imagery in monitoring these regions as well as approaches to modeling the relevant processes.
Download or read book Biomass Burning and Its Inter Relationships with the Climate System written by John L. Innes and published by Springer Science & Business Media. This book was released on 2000 with total page 358 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: This volume contains a selection of scientific papers which were presented at an international workshop held in Wengen, Switzerland, in September 1998. A number of state-of-the-art papers are presented, which discuss scientific, technological and socio-economic issues related to large forest fires which occur both in the tropics and in the extra-tropical regions. The book comprises some of the most recent research conducted in the context of the large forest fires which occurred in South-East Asia, Australia, Brazil and Africa in late 1997 and early 1998; while essentially due to human interference, these particular fires appear to have been enhanced by the particularly strong El Niño episode which prevailed at that time. This interdisciplinary volume addresses a number of topics, in particular the contribution to climatic change by the greenhouse gases and aerosols emitted by large forest fires, the monitoring of fires both during and after combustion through satellite remote-sensing techniques, and numerical studies of the perturbation to the climate system using general circulation climate models.
Download or read book Ecology of Wildfire Residuals in Boreal Forests written by Ajith Perera and published by John Wiley & Sons. This book was released on 2014-07-21 with total page 280 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Large and intense wildfires are integral to the globally important boreal forest biome. While much is known about boreal wildfires, the focus on forest remnants that either escape or survive these intense fires is a recent phenomenon: academics now study ecological processes of wildfire residuals, forest policymakers use their patterns to design harvest strategies, forest managers consider their economic value, and conservationists recognize their intrinsic ecological importance. Ecology of Wildfire Residuals in Boreal Forests is the first book to explore ecological patterns and processes of what does not burn within boreal wildfires. Following a brief introduction to the boreal forest biome, it discusses the processes that form wildfire residuals; how they are studied, with various approaches and methods; the types, extent, and ecological functions of wildfire residuals; and their role in forest management applications, all in the context of ecological scale. This book is a reference for researchers and graduate students studying boreal forest ecology, as well as for policymakers and forest managers. It adopts a non-reductionist perspective that will be of interest to scientists from conservation science, forest ecology, forest management, and timber production. Brings together fire behaviour, ecological scale, vegetation ecology, and conservation biology to provide a cross disciplinary, multi-scale, and an integrative discussion of forest fire residuals Captures the state of knowledge with a meta-analysis of research trends during the past few decades, with a comprehensive review of the literature, a compilation of key references, and a list of key topics relevant to the study of boreal wildfire residuals Identifies the major gaps and uncertainties in the present body of knowledge, including a critique of study techniques and reporting practices to date, and proposes a set of terms and definitions and a list of research questions and priorities Includes the authors’ observations and research experience from boreal Canada, and information extracted from interactions with North American and European ecologists, forest managers, and conservationists
Download or read book Fire Phenomena and the Earth System written by Claire M. Belcher and published by John Wiley & Sons. This book was released on 2013-04-08 with total page 407 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Fire plays a key role in Earth system processes. Wildfires influence the carbon cycle and the nutrient balance of our planet, and may even play a role in regulating the oxygen content of our atmosphere. The evolutionary history of plants has been intimately tied to fire and this in part explains the distribution of our ecosystems and their ability to withstand the effects of natural fires today. Fire Phenomena and the Earth System brings together the various subdisciplines within fire science to provide a synthesis of our understanding of the role of wildfire in the Earth system. The book shows how knowledge of fire phenomena and the nature of combustion of natural fuels can be used to understand modern wildfires, interpret fire events in the geological record and to understand the role of fire in a variety of Earth system processes. By bringing together chapters written by leading international researchers from a range of geological, environmental, chemical and engineering disciplines, the book will stimulate the exchange of ideas and knowledge across these subject areas. Fire Phenomena and the Earth System provides a truly interdisciplinary guide that can inform us about Earth’s past, present and beyond. Readership: Advanced students and researchers across a wide range of earth, environmental and life sciences, including biogeochemistry, paleoclimatology, atmospheric science, palaeontology and paleoecology, combustion science, ecology and forestry.
Download or read book Fire in Ecosystems of Boreal Eurasia written by Johann Georg Goldammer and published by Springer Science & Business Media. This book was released on 2013-03-09 with total page 543 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: One of the first priority areas among joint East/West research programs is the rational use of natural resources and sustainable development of regions. In the boreal zone of North America and Eurasia forests are economically very important and, at the same time highly vulnerable to disturbances. Because of its size and ecological functions the boreal forest zone and its most dynamic disturbance factor - fire - play an important role in ecosystem processes on global scale. Interest within the global change research community in Northern Eurasia (Fennoscandia, European Russia, Siberia, and the Far East of Russia) has grown dramatically in the last few years. It is a vast area about which very little is known. It is a region where temperature rise due to anthropogenic climate forcing is predicted to be the greatest, and where the consequent feedbacks to the atmosphere are potentially large. In addition, it is poised to undergo rapid economic development, which may lead to large and significant changes to its land cover. Much of this interest in Northern Eurasia, as in the high latitude regions in general, is centerd on its role in the global carbon cycle, which is likely to be significantly affected under global change. New research initiatives between Western and Eastern countries have been designed to address a series of phenomena, problems and management solutions.
Download or read book Forest Disturbances and Climate Feedbacks in a Mixedwood Boreal Forest written by Md. Abdul Halim and published by . This book was released on 2020 with total page 0 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Boreal forests play a critical role in global climate via important biophysical and biogeochemical feedbacks. Large-scale disturbances, particularly fire and harvesting, significantly affect these feedbacks by altering the surface and stand attributes, and can impact boreal forests' role in the global climate system. Surface- and stand-attribute-driven feedbacks change rapidly in early successional stages, making them challenging to model. As the frequency and intensity of disturbances in boreal forests are predicted to increase, a vast landscape with proportionally more young forests is likely to result. Understanding these feedbacks during early stand development is thus more critical than ever before. Scarcity of data on key biophysical (e.g., albedo, soil temperature) and biogeochemical (e.g., soil greenhouse gas fluxes) processes during early stand development has been noted, particularly in mixedwood boreal forests. Using a series of micrometeorological towers in fire and harvesting chronosequences of a mixedwood boreal forest of northwestern Ontario, we studied combined effects of vegetation cover and climate warming on the surface soil (~2 cm depth) temperature in post-disturbance stands, and the patterns and drivers of surface albedo and soil CO2 and CH4 fluxes during early stand development stages in post-fire and post-harvest stands. A proxy-year analysis indicated that surface soil temperature in winter and spring was lower in a warm year compared to a baseline year, and the magnitude of this difference varied with vegetation cover (Chapter 2). Albedo differences between post-fire and post-harvest stands were most pronounced during winter and spring and primarily driven by stand age and species composition (Chapter 3). We also found that CO2 effluxes were lower in post-fire stands compared to post-harvest stands; post-fire stands were never a source, but some young post-harvest stands were a net source of CH4 . The magnitude in flux difference between post-fire and post-harvest stands varied with stand age and was affected by environmental variables such as soil temperature, moisture, pH, and litter depth (Chapter 4). These findings are critical for understanding dynamics in soil temperature, albedo, and soil carbon fluxes during early successional stages and useful for climate-smart boreal forest management.
Download or read book Fire and Vegetation Dynamics written by Edward A. Johnson and published by Cambridge University Press. This book was released on 1996-06-13 with total page 160 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: A technical introduction to the behaviour of fire and its ecological consequences, using examples from the North American boreal forest.
Download or read book A Systems Analysis of the Global Boreal Forest written by Herman H. Shugart and published by Cambridge University Press. This book was released on 2005-03-07 with total page 584 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The world's boreal forests, which lie to the south of the Arctic, are considered to be the Earth's most significant terrestrial ecosystems. A panel of ecologists here provide a synthesis of the important patterns and processes which occur in boreal forests and review the principal mechanisms which control the forest's patterns.
Download or read book Fire Regimes Spatial and Temporal Variability and Their Effects on Forests written by Yves Bergeron and published by MDPI. This book was released on 2018-04-13 with total page 433 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: This book is a printed edition of the Special Issue "Fire Regimes: Spatial and Temporal Variability and Their Effects on Forests" that was published in Forests
Download or read book Ecological Foundations for Fire Management in North American Forest and Shrubland Ecosystems written by and published by . This book was released on 2009 with total page 102 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: This synthesis provides an ecological foundation for management of the diverse ecosystems and fire regimes of North America, based on scientific principles of fire interactions with vegetation, fuels, and biophysical processes. Although a large amount of scientific data on fire exists, most of those data have been collected at small spatial and temporal scales. Thus, it is challenging to develop consistent science-based plans for large spatial and temporal scales where most fire management and planning occur. Understanding the regional geographic context of fire regimes is critical for developing appropriate and sustainable management strategies and policy. The degree to which human intervention has modified fire frequency, intensity, and severity varies greatly among different ecosystems, and must be considered when planning to alter fuel loads or implement restorative treatments. Detailed discussion of six ecosystems--ponderosa pine forest (western North America), chaparral (California), boreal forest (Alaska and Canada), Great Basin sagebrush (intermountain West), pine and pine-hardwood forests (Southern Appalachian Mountains), and longleaf pine (Southeastern United States)-- illustrates the complexity of fire regimes and that fire management requires a clear regional focus that recognizes where conflicts might exist between fire hazard reduction and resource needs. In some systems, such as ponderosa pine, treatments are usually compatible with both fuel reduction and resource needs, whereas in others, such as chaparral, the potential exists for conflicts that need to be closely evaluated. Managing fire regimes in a changing climate and social environment requires a strong scientific basis for developing fire management and policy.
Download or read book Firestorm written by Edward Struzik and published by Island Press. This book was released on 2017-10-05 with total page 271 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: "Frightening...Firestorm comes alive when Struzik discusses the work of offbeat scientists." —New York Times Book Review "Comprehensive and compelling." —Booklist "A powerful message." —Kirkus "Should be required reading." —Library Journal For two months in the spring of 2016, the world watched as wildfire ravaged the Canadian town of Fort McMurray. Firefighters named the fire “the Beast.” It acted like a mythical animal, alive with destructive energy, and they hoped never to see anything like it again. Yet it’s not a stretch to imagine we will all soon live in a world in which fires like the Beast are commonplace. A glance at international headlines shows a remarkable increase in higher temperatures, stronger winds, and drier lands– a trifecta for igniting wildfires like we’ve rarely seen before. This change is particularly noticeable in the northern forests of the United States and Canada. These forests require fire to maintain healthy ecosystems, but as the human population grows, and as changes in climate, animal and insect species, and disease cause further destabilization, wildfires have turned into a potentially uncontrollable threat to human lives and livelihoods. Our understanding of the role fire plays in healthy forests has come a long way in the past century. Despite this, we are not prepared to deal with an escalation of fire during periods of intense drought and shorter winters, earlier springs, potentially more lightning strikes and hotter summers. There is too much fuel on the ground, too many people and assets to protect, and no plan in place to deal with these challenges. In Firestorm, journalist Edward Struzik visits scorched earth from Alaska to Maine, and introduces the scientists, firefighters, and resource managers making the case for a radically different approach to managing wildfire in the 21st century. Wildfires can no longer be treated as avoidable events because the risk and dangers are becoming too great and costly. Struzik weaves a heart-pumping narrative of science, economics, politics, and human determination and points to the ways that we, and the wilder inhabitants of the forests around our cities and towns, might yet flourish in an age of growing megafires.
Download or read book Ecological Foundations for Fire Management in North American Forest and Shrubland Ecosystems written by J. E. Keeley and published by DIANE Publishing. This book was released on 2011-05 with total page 100 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Provides an ecological foundation for mgmt. of the diverse ecosystems and fire regimes of N. America, based on scientific principles of fire interactions with vegetation, fuels, and biophysical processes. Detailed discussion of six ecosystems ¿ ponderosa pine forest (western N. America), chaparral (Calif.), boreal forest (Alaska and Canada), Great Basin sagebrush (inter-mountain West), pine and pine-hardwood forests (Southern Appalachian Mountains), and longleaf pine (Southeastern U.S.) ¿ illustrates the complexity of fire regimes and that fire mgmt. requires a clear regional focus that recognizes where conflicts might exist between fire hazard reduction and resource needs. Illustrations. This is a print on demand report.
Download or read book Fire in the Forest written by Peter A. Thomas and published by Cambridge University Press. This book was released on 2010-09-23 with total page 239 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: How destructive or beneficial are forest fires to wildlife? Should we be trying to reduce or increase the amount of fire in forests? How are forest fires controlled, and why does this sometimes fail? What effect will climate change have? These and many other questions are answered in this richly illustrated book, written in non-technical language. The journey starts in the long geological history of fire leading up to our present love-hate relationship with it. Exploring the physics of how a single flame burns, the journey continues through how whole forests burn and the anatomy of firestorms. The positive and negative ecological effects of fires are explored, from plants and wildlife to whole landscapes. The journey ends with how fires are controlled, and a look to the future. This book will be of interest to ecologists, biogeographers and anyone with an interest in forest fires and the role they play.
Download or read book Wildland Fires and Air Pollution written by Andrzej Bytnerowicz and published by Elsevier. This book was released on 2008-10-06 with total page 687 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The interaction between smoke and air pollution creates a public health challenge. Fuels treatments proposed for National Forests are intended to reduce fuel accumulations and wildfire frequency and severity, as well as to protect property located in the wild land-urban interface. However, prescribed fires produce gases and aerosols that have instantaneous and long-term effects on air quality. If fuels treatment are not conducted, however, then wild land fires become more severe and frequent causing worse public health and wellfare effects. A better understanding of air pollution and smoke interactions is needed in order to protect the public health and allow for socially and ecologically acceptable use of fire as a management tool. Wildland Fires and Air Pollution offers such an understanding and examines innovative wide-scale monitoring efforts (field and remotely sensed), and development of models predicting spatial and temporal distribution of air pollution and smoke resulting from forests fires and other sources. Collaborative effort of an international team of scientists High quality of invited chapters Full colour
Download or read book Towards Sustainable Management of the Boreal Forest written by Philip Joseph Burton and published by NRC Research Press. This book was released on 2003 with total page 1056 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Presenting a summary of the development in boreal forest management, this book provides a progressive vision for some of the world's northern forests. It includes a selection of chapters based on the research conducted by the Sustainable Forest Management Network across Canada. It includes a number of case histories.
Download or read book The Role of Fire in the Carbon Dynamics of the Boreal Forest written by Michael S. Balshi and published by . This book was released on 2007 with total page 386 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: "The boreal forest contains large reserves of carbon, and across this region wildfire is a common occurrence. To improve the understanding of how wildfire influences the carbon dynamics of this region, methods were developed to incorporate the spatial and temporal effects of fire into the Terrestrial Ecosystem Model (TEM). The historical role of fire on carbon dynamics of the boreal region was evaluated within the context of ecosystem responses to changing atmospheric CO2 and climate. These results show that the role of historical fire on boreal carbon dynamics resulted in a net carbon sink; however, fire plays a major role in the interannual and decadal scale variation of source/sink relationships. To estimate the effects of future fire on boreal carbon dynamics, spatially and temporally explicit empirical relationships between climate and fire were quantified. Fuel moisture, monthly severity rating, and air temperature explained a significant proportion of observed variability in annual area burned. These relationships were used to estimate annual area burned for future scenarios of climate change and were coupled to TEM to evaluate the role of future fire on the carbon dynamics of the North American boreal region for the 21st Century. Simulations with TEM indicate that boreal North America is a carbon sink in response to CO2 fertilization, climate variability, and fire, but an increase in fire leads to a decrease in the sink strength. While this study highlights the importance of fire on carbon dynamics in the boreal region, there are uncertainties in the effects of fire in TEM simulations. These uncertainties are associated with sparse fire data for northern Eurasia, uncertainty in estimating carbon consumption, and difficulty in verifying assumptions about the representation of fires that occurred prior to the start of the historical fire record. Future studies should incorporate the role of dynamic vegetation to more accurately represent post-fire successional processes, incorporate fire severity parameters that change in time and space, and integrate the role of other disturbances and their interactions with future fire regimes"--Leaf iii.
